The All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed concerns over a possible collaboration between New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) leader Rabiu Kwankwaso and Labor Party’s Peter Obi ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
APC says the alliance does not threaten its primacy.
In an interview with Punch on Monday, APC’s national communications director, Bala Ibrahim, confidently stated that the proposed alliance is likely to fail as it did before the 2023 presidential election.
He pointed to the lack of trust between Obi and Kwankwaso as a major barrier, stressing that neither politician intends to step down to seek the presidency.
The comment came in response to reports that Mr Kwankwaso had recently indicated that he was open to running as Mr Obi’s running mate in the 2027 elections, albeit on condition that he not disclose the information. The move has sparked debate about a possible merger between the NNPP and the Labor Party.
Labor Party national secretary Umar Farouq welcomed the idea, saying cooperation between the two politicians could be successful if Mr Kwankwaso was willing to put aside his ego and work with Mr Obi.
However, the APC is confident that such an alliance will not pose a serious challenge to President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
“The most important element underlying that permutation is the word trust, and that will be the bane of their agreement,” Ibrahim said. These are experiments that have been done multiple times, and we cannot expect the results to change unless the factors driving the results change. If you don’t change the coefficients, run the same experiment under the same conditions, and expect a different result, you’re just fooling yourself. This is a scientific procedure.
“Kwankwaso and Peter Obi tried to form an alliance several times in the past, but their romance never lasted beyond the bedroom. That’s because they are strange bed buddies who cannot sleep in the same room. Both have one ambition to lead the country at any cost and neither is willing to give up their position to the other just because there is a sense of superiority between them.
“As long as that complex exists and is unlikely to diminish, there will be no change that would justify the sleepless nights the APC is having. What they are proposing now is just rhetoric. Because they see the progress of the APC and the changes that are happening in the political arena, they know that in 2027, the victory of the APC will become a fait accompli. There is only the noise of survival. It is also the rant of a doomed party. Therefore, there is nothing to worry about for APC.”
However, Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party Abdullahi Ibrahim said the proposed Obi Kwankwaso alliance was a welcome development.
Mr. Ibrahim told Mr. Punch that the PDP supports any talks on an alliance or merger that would free Nigerians from the current hardships and control of the APC-led government.
He said, “This is a welcome development.When key figures of the opposition met to consider the state of affairs in the country, we were the ones who initiated the discussion at the PDP platform.We have expectations from the opposition in the future.” If so, whether it is Peter Obi’s Labor Party, Kwankwaso’s NNPP or the PDP that is prepared to lead the opposition, it is imperative that they shrink their ranks and chart a common cause.
“At least we are the main opposition party and we have been in power for 16 years as a centrist.Currently, we have 13 governors, including in the FCT (under Nyesom Wike), making a total of 14. As of the last count, Mr. Wike has not yet announced his intention to leave the PDP.Therefore, for these reasons, we remain the main opposition party in the country and that is why we have no direction. It shows.
“Regardless of the fact that, as I said, it is not our party, it is commendable. It has the means to ensure that people are brought out of the despair and despondency that seems to have taken over this country. Of course, Nigerians no longer want these people in power and look behind the APC because of the insensitivity that characterizes their methods. I can’t wait.”
